So This Is The New Year?
So far 2021 doesn't feel a whole lot different so...let's keep this tiki thing rolling?
I took a short drinking break to after the 1st of the year. I needed it, the pandemic has been fun for home bartending but…sometimes it gets a little much and you need to reset things. So I took a week and a half off. I don’t really do dry January because…well, my birthday is in January. I like to celebrate it. Yes, I’m aware I celebrated many birthdays without it, but you know, I’m an adult. I enjoy an adult beverage sometimes. But it’s good to remember why you do anything, and what you really need in this life. Sometimes the perspective of distance is what you need.
Of course, it’s also been a weird couple of weeks to start January. 2021 is showing no signs of letting up, COVID continues to rages on to sad and disastrous effect, we are all on pins and needles waiting to get to January 20, and though maybe the rest of you aren’t dealing with it, I’m also dealing with those existential questions that a milestone birthday (that I can’t even properly celebrate!) brings up. It’s been hard to focus on anything, and harder not to feel the weight of it all. I can’t remember the last time I saw some of my friends, and normally a good birthday celebration would be just the reason to get folks together. I had a whole plan sketched out that liberally involved a lot of DJ Purple, Slate Bar, and y’all. And probably a couple other activities throughout the weekend.
Yes, I know there are bigger problems in this pandemic, but I also don’t want to minimize what I’m feeling either. You can be fortunate and still realize it sucks, your problems are still your problems, etc etc etc. It’s enough to make anyone’s mood a bit sour, these days.
So…why not a sour? I don’t have the normal bevy of citrus sitting around at the moment. But I do have everything sitting around for a 50s classic, the Eastern Sour
As a reminder, and as David Wondrich would say, wash your mitts. We practice good hygiene here at Trader Jane’s. This is basically just a riff on a whiskey sour with orgeat, so set aside your rum for once, we are working bourbon (or rye). As I’ve pontificated before, my bourbon of choice for tiki is Old-Grand 114. But let’s try one with rye tonight, just to mix things up a little. In that case, I’ll take it down just a notch and go with my tiki rye of choice, Rittenhouse Bottled In Bond…idk, it’s a new year, try something different, right?
Otherwise, you need some orange juice, lemon juice, orgeat, and simple. I’m not overly prescriptive on my choices of simple syrup all that much. I want a little more sweetness, so I pulled out my 2:1 Demerara, but most recipes are written with 1:1 in mind. Anyway, now that you got everything, let’s get started:
2.5 oz orange juice
.75 oz lemon juice
.25 oz orgeat (Small Hands Food)
.25 oz (as noted, went 2:1 Demerara, but do your thing)
2 oz bourbon or rye
Put that all in your tin, add some crushed ice (probably 4-6 ounces depending on what you are pouring it into. It’s one scoop of my ice scoop, sorry this is not a more precise measurement, but look, those are just the facts). Did I choose a drink where I can just reuse the ice? Not on purpose, but the economy of it is nice. Shake well with that crushed ice and pour ungated into a double rocks glass (or any 12 ounce glass you may have if you don’t keep those around). There you go, you got yourself something nice to have while you are watching the late hockey games.
Something To Read While You Sip
I don’t know if it’ll be a regular feature, but how about a semi-regular feature? A reading corner if you will. Several of you out there forwarded this excellent article from the New York Times about the problematic nature of aspects of tiki and the effort to reclaim and recenter those aspects. I’d highly recommend it. The drinks are fun, but it’s also worthwhile to remember the real world consequences of where this all came from and how we contribute to that.
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something once or twice a week (that’s the goal for now at least), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
And, as with any good drink, feel free to share (responsibly, of course)